Roulette Strategy

Roulette is a pretty simple game.

Stay away from the five-number bet and watch your bankroll and you’re less likely to lose big. This is about as simple as saying you’re less likely to be eaten by a bear if you don’t cover yourself in goat blood and attempt to rub its belly. But is there a way to truly increase your odds of winning?

There are indeed some important things to know before playing at a land based or online casino. First of all, forget about turning a profit at roulette. There are many systems which some people claim can help you win at roulette, but they are, in reality, ineffective at changing the odds of the game. To learn why, check out our Roulette System section. No matter what you do, the house edge will not change for a particular game under a particular set of rules. The only thing you can do, therefore, is find the best games with the best rules. To find these games is the only roulette strategy that can truly work.

The Surrender Rule

The first thing you need to be on the lookout for are the games that offer the “surrender” rule. This rule comes into play on outside bets that pay even money. This would include the red/black, odd/even and high/low bets. The deal is, if the ball lands on a 0 or 00 you’ll only lose half of your bet instead of the whole thing. The house edge then becomes 2.63% at wheels that use this rule. The catch is, single zero roulette wheels (European wheels) do not offer this rule.

Playing European Style

Which brings me to my next point: European roulette wheels. Look for them. There are some, but not many in the US. They are mostly confined to Europe and Australia, where they are standard. You can find them at a few locations in Canada and many in New Zealand as well. Whereas the double zero roulette wheels common to America have a 5.26% house edge, the European wheels have a significantly lower house edge of 2.7%.

The En Prison Rule

There’s one more thing you should consider including in your newly formed roulette strategy of simply looking for the best tables to play at. I’m talking about a rule that is very rarely added on called “En Prison”. This rule is pretty much impossible to find anywhere but in Europe, so don’t spend too much time looking anywhere in America, but there’s no harm in asking around. In this rule, if you are placing an even money outside bet, and the ball happens to find its way to the 0, the bet will not be swept away after the rest of the bets. Instead, it will remain on the board “in prison”. If on the next spin your bet does win, your original bet will be returned to you with no extra winnings. If another 0 comes up, the bet will remain in prison. Overall, this rule reduces the house edge on even money bets to 1.35% (in addition to the fact that it is only offered at European roulette games).

If you can’t find a casino with single zero roulette tables, you might want to try the simple alternative of playing online roulette, where it is not uncommon to find a European roulette wheel. This is a much easier roulette strategy than moving to Europe.

Just be careful not to get too carried away with the game, and remember, don’t go looking to make a profit or you will probably be sorely disappointed when you lose a huge wad of cash.